Tony Blair: 'No-deal Brexit is not off the table'

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, TONY BLAIR, SAYING:

"Around the world, where political leaders are gathered, there is often a conversation about whose politics is crazier. I agree that right now the competition is fierce, but I still believe British politics is, unfortunately, ahead of the pack."

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has criticized both the main parties in the UK's upcoming election for "peddling fantasies".

Speaking at a Reuters event on Monday (November 25), Blair took aim at both the ruling Conservative Party's pledge to "Get Brexit Done" and the opposition Labour Party's radical agenda to greatly increase the size of the state.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, TONY BLAIR, SAYING:

"Both as majority governments pose a risk it would be unwise for the country to take."

Blair - who advocates a second Brexit referendum - said there was "no chance" of concluding a comprehensive deal with the EU by the end of the transition period next year, as promised in Prime Minster Boris Johnson's manifesto.

And he said that made a "no deal Brexit" much more likely.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, TONY BLAIR, SAYING:

"No-deal Brexit is not off the table, it's slap bang in the middle of it. And if the Conservatives mean their manifesto commitment, to no extension past the end of 2020, it is the probable outcome... What it really means is throwing our economy off a cliff and hoping it finds a parachute on the way down."

Blair - a more centrist Labour leader than the current incumbent Jeremy Corbyn - said the opposition are promising a revolution.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, TONY BLAIR, SAYING:

"The problem with revolutions is never how the begin, but how they end."

Blair won three elections but says December's vote is the weirdest of his lifetime.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, TONY BLAIR, SAYING:

"But once you realize it is not conventional, you are liberated to think unconventionally. This is a moment to set aside the fatigue, to understand we're taking a decision not just about a government, but about our future, and therefore think deeply."